The purpose and duties of President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) National Security Council (NSC) are obscure, and despite a reshuffle of members, no clear strategic objectives have emerged, former national security officials said.
Tsai’s appointments seem to support no particular policy direction, compared with the national security teams of former presidents Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) and Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), which highlighted foreign policy and cross-strait relations respectively, former officials said.
Former chief of the General Staff Yen Teh-fa (嚴德發) and academic Tsai Ming-Yen (蔡明彥) were sworn in on Monday last week as NSC secretary-general and deputy secretary-general respectively.
Photo: CNA
The other two NSC deputy secretaries-general are polling expert Chen Chun-lin (陳俊麟) and national defense expert Chen Wen-jenq (陳文政). The five NSC advisers are lawyer and judicial reform leader Lin Feng-jeng (林?正), international finance lawyer Lin Liang-jung (林良蓉), Academia Sinica fellow and information security expert Lee Der-tsai (李德財) and former Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) deputy ministers Fu Dong-cheng (傅棟成) and Tung Chen-yuan (童振源).
Chen Shui-bian’s national security team was focused on expanding foreign relations, and former NSC secretaries-general Chiou I-jen (邱義仁), Mark Chen (陳唐山) and Kang Ning-hsiang (康寧祥) were in charge of developing ties with the US, according to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
During the same period, NSC deputy secretaries-general and other council members — including now-MAC Deputy Minister Lin Cheng-yi (林正義) and Taichung Mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) — were responsible for analyzing foreign relations, the source said.
Photo: CNA
Ma was pushing the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement with China and aiming to develop cross-strait relations, so his NSC appointments — including former NSC secretary-general Su Chi (蘇起) and deputy secretary-general Kao Charng (高長) — were designed to forward that goal, the source said.
Experts in cross-strait trade were later added to Ma’s NSC team, including former minister of economic affairs John Deng (鄧振中) and former MAC minister Wang Yu-chi (王郁琦).
The NSC has four major roles: mid and long-term strategic planning, tactical operations for immediate purposes, daily administration and crisis management, former NSC deputy secretary-general Chang Jung-feng (張榮豐) said.
The NSC has to formulate plans for cross-strait and foreign relations to be employed over the next decade, but it also has to respond to rapidly changing events, such as the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis, which took place during former president Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) tenure, Chang said.
“The NSC is very important if it is valued by the president, but not important at all if it is not valued by the president,” Chang said.
The NSC advises the president on national security issues such as defense, foreign relations, cross-strait ties and major national emergencies, former NSC deputy secretary-general Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) said.
“It does not suit the NSC’s purpose to have judicial reform and polling experts in the NSC leadership,” Michael Tsai said.
The US last year passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017 authorizing senior military exchanges with Taiwan, but Taipei has remained too conservative to seek increased military ties with the US, he said.
That Tung was appointed to the NSC last year after he resigned as Cabinet spokesman suggested that “Tsai Ing-wen does not place a high value on NSC functions,” the source said.
Tung is rumored to have been appointed representative to Thailand, the source said, adding that the president should use the opportunity to reorganize the NSC, as Tsai Ming-Yen is the only official tasked with foreign policy management, and that provides too little support for a Democratic Progressive Party government that is seeking to expand the nation’s international space.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
Travel agencies in Taiwan are working to secure alternative flights for travelers bound for New Zealand for the Lunar New Year holiday, as Air New Zealand workers are set to strike next week. The airline said that it has confirmed that the planned industrial action by its international wide-body cabin crew would go ahead on Thursday and Friday next week. While the Auckland-based carrier pledged to take reasonable measures to mitigate the impact of the workers’ strike, an Air New Zealand flight arriving at Taipei from Auckland on Thursday and another flight departing from Taipei for Auckland on Saturday would have to
RSS